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It's true that both Palin and Obama have much less experience when contrasted with McCain or Biden. However, one of the differences between Palin and Obama is that Obama is willing to face the glaring spotlight of the media. He answers questions and does interviews. Palin, even though she is a V.P. candidate rather than a Presidential candidate, still needs to show that she can handle herself in public. Sarah still needs to be out there speaking in a variety of public situations. The Vice Presidency is a public office, not a mere staff position.

Palin is not being made accessible because everyone (including the McCain strategists) knows she wouldn't handle herself well. That isn't going to change in 43 days or by next January, either. She would perform just as poorly after the inauguration as she is performing now.

AMEN, spitfire! Palin actually has LESS overall experience than Obama does. Obama served eight years as a legislator, and has been in the Senate for two. Palin was mayor for six years, and has only been governor for two. Before that she didn't do much of anything while Obama led a community organization and grew it from one person to a staff of 17 or so. Obama has more executive experience as a community organizer than Palin does as governor Palin is a laughingstock and an embarrassment. No wonder the McCain/Palin ticket is not talking to the media.

Obama is the man for the job! He's not afraid of the media, as the above poster said.

McCain may technically have more experience than Obama, but his judgement is very poor and that to me is very scary indeed.

Obama may have less experience than McCain, but he has excellent judgement and chose wisely when he chose Joe Biden as his running mate.

Look at it like this: Would you rather have a pilot who flew for ten years but has really bad judgement, flies drunk and puts his passengers at risk, or would you rather have a man who has been flying for two years but has better judgement, and puts safety first? Experience isn't everything! Judgement, character, integrity and willingness to deal with the REAL issues of the day are far more important. McCain did crash five aircraft while he was in the military!

Yet, on Obama's first trip to meet heads of state, he did the same thing. But not a peep from the media. Can you say bias? You don't need to, it's blatantly apparent.

Actually, Obama took a number of nationally-known reporters with him on his trip, and he has always been available for extensive Q&A with reporters. He gives access, while McCain won't let Sarah do the same.

No one can be faulted for liking Sarah or for identifying with Sarah if that is their choice. That's fine. However, she has no experience on the national stage, and the small amount of executive experience she has in Alaska won't prepare her for the V.P. role. In addition to that, she is poorly educated and relatively ignorant when compared with any other Vice Presidential candidate in recent history. It's hard to defend her when even the McCain campaign knows full well that she's not ready.

Politically, I'd say McCain chose her as running mate because he wanted to look progressive to the voters and prove his, so called, maverick status. It wasn't because she has bags of experience in any thing resembling foreign policy or anything else - you don't get much being the gov. of a state known for ?? Being president of a country doesn't lend itself to "on the job training". McCain's health problems are documented, so she could become president in heart beat.

She only got her passport a short time ago and she has only recently started meet 'n greets with forign leaders. Political Handlers trying to get her up to speed? Her first reaction (and possibly the most honest one) to the state trooper thing was not to co-operate with the investigation. She only got involved after her political handlers got her involved and because it turned out to be a political black eye.

She's probably a a smart woman. Some people like Carly Fiorina might disagree (the former head of HP said Pailin could not run Hewlett-Packard. That was her opinion. Fiorina has actually run HP herself, so she would know). Pailin's a wild card and posibly irrelevant.

OK, this is a developing story, so undoubtedly it will take a while for it all to sort out, but according to CNN:

Obama called McCain early Wednesday morning to ask for a joint statement, a McCain senior advisor said.

An Obama campaign source confirmed the call and said that McCain returned his call six hours later, and accepted the concept and suggested the two of them return to Washington to join the negotiations. The source says that Obama told him that he would do that only if negotiators saw it as useful.

According to the Obama source, soon after they ended the call, McCain announced he was suspending his campaign and returning to Washington.

Based on the above, it sounds like Obama made the first move, suggesting a joint statement. It sure looks like McCain then responded with his 'suspend the campaign' move to make it look like he was the one taking initiative.

There are positives to be found here. Both candidates are demonstrating their willingness to cross party lines to address a major problem. I am more impressed by Obama's approach, in that he understands that staying out of the way at this point may be more beneficial than barging into the middle of delicate negotiations. There's a world of difference between a President facilitating a bi-partisan solution and a candidate adding campaign complications to an already difficult situation.

But I also find it hard to imagine that had this happened in the last campaign the Kerry and Bush camps would have been able to even have a conversation about it, much less reach any sort of agreement. Both McCain and Obama are showing that when the chips are really down, they're willing to join forces if it will help.

Sure there's no doubt that they're each trying to demonstrate that their strategies today make THEM the better presidential choice. It would be naive to expect anything different. That's why it probably wouldn't help for one or both of them to get too deeply involved in the actual negotiation process.

But I still feel affirmed in my belief that we're going to have a better president in a few months than we do now.

That said, I think the debate should go on and that the candidates should limit their direct involvement in the current crisis to public statements, joint or otherwise. If they want to give us all a break from advertising, bickering and distortions, I won't complain a bit.

Actually Obama just was live on CNN stating that McCain called him, and Obama proposed a joint statement.

Obama then stated that McCain agreed to the statement and further suggested to postpone the debate, and the campaign, so that they could BOTH GO BACK TO WORK.

Obama stated that his staff would get back to John on that.

In the press conference Obama further stated that this is the time when the country wants to hear from the candidates.

By coincidence, I watched that live coverage.

Obama stated, and the McCain camp admitted, that Obama called McCain and McCain returned his call 6 hours later.

Obama called because he felt the candidates should put out a joint statement - the kind of bipartisanship both a promising and called for during a time of crisis. McCain suggested suspending campaigning - Obama said they should work out the joint statement first and then they could talk about what else they could do.

McCain surprised Obama by shortly after announcing his intention to skip the debate and suspend his campaign.

This is politics. Obama is seen by more Americans as being competent on economic issues and McCain needed to do something to get into the game. His last Hail Mary was the Palin pick and that worked for nearly 2 weeks. He just threw another bomb down the field. This one will probably be seen more cynically and will be less effective.

No one in the Obama camp is freaking out--why would they? Obama is leading in the polls, Palin is showing her ass every time (okay, BOTH times) she talks to a journalist, and if McCain doesn't show up for the Friday debate, there will be an empty chair sitting on the stage.

Yep--he's going back to D.C. to fix the crisis--could he have gone back last week? Or, even this past Monday??? Yes, he could have.

Don't even bring up Obama not agreeing to more debates, when McCain won't show up to the first one.

Yet, throws a tizzy, when McCain wants to postpone a debate to do the job he and Obama were hired to do, and criticizes McCain for not debating, when he has been refusing to do MORE debates.

Another example of your sense of humor.McCain WAS HIRED TO DO THIS JOB 20+ YEARS AGO. Suddenly, in the midst of his campaign for the presidency, he remembers what he was suppposed to do, backs out of the debate, and hopes that we believe his 'it's for the good of the country that I go and fix this financial mess' blah blah blah.

Usually, when people streamline their activities during a time of crisis (cancelling commitments, etc.), it's a sign of being panicked and overwhelmed rather than a sign of leadership. There's no reason why McCain and Obama can't be involved in passing the bipartisan bill while still having the debate on Friday night. It's ridiculous to think that all 535 members of the Senate and House of Representatives need to be holed up in a bunker somewhere for 48 hours or 72 hours straight to produce a viable bill.

The fact that McCain not only wants to reschedule the 1st Presidential debate, but also the V.P. debate, is a sure sign that this is a desperation move and not just a leader taking the initiative. What does the Palin-Biden debate have to do with the Senators and Congressmen meeting a Friday deadline this week?

Someone mentioned that Obama shunned the town hall meetings. First of all, Obama didn't back out of any debates which had been already scheduled. Second, this financial crisis has been going on for a long time. McCain would be more credible if he had wanted to work extensively on this crisis months ago. The markets have been teetering during this entire campaign season. The fact that the media is finally reporting it as the clusterfùck it is doesn't mean the financial crisis hasn't been developing for the last 2 years! McCain went from saying "the fundamentals of our economy are strong" to "Let's cancel multiple debates; suspend the campaigns and stop the disaster." in 9 DAYS!

McCain is panicking, and that's never good for resolving this kind of financial challenge.

The fraud is the candidate who cheated on his wife and kids all along fooling close friends and family into BELIEVING he was this sincere loyal husband and father. HE fooled his wife, family and close friends for many years. What fool believes he cannot do the same to the American public? He agreed to rush this country into an invasion and occupation based upon a fraud, how has he changed? He went on record speaking against change when it was clear that the race was him against Obama, now he lies and says he is about change....how quickly he turns how foolish and gullable he believes the American public to be.

BTW, funny how you got your story about the Obama/Mccain call wrong and then tried to gloss over it. True Mccain dispite country , dispite logic, dispite honor, dispite ethics, dispite truth, style.

well then apparently I am smarter than the average Joe since I had you figured out so quickly. You know, the person I would choose to run a company would be decisive, a leader, somone people could respect and want to work hard for and with, someone with strong moral convictions, if he or she happened to have a degree from Harvard, bonus, but not my top priority. I don't believe that having a college degree makes you equipped to run a government either, experience does, and frankly I think life experience is much more important.

Not if that experience shows you to be out of touch with those of us who are 'average'.Not if that experience shows that you've focused on helping cronyism flourish.Not if that experience shows a preference for helping the rich get richer.Not if that experience shows that your 'moral convictions' stopped just short of your marriage vows.

The difference here is that the above quote is just the posters opinion.

The facts i've stated are provable facts.

I know that facts can be considered the dark side to some. But the truth isn't that bad, come on over.

We've got cookies!!!

Actually, if you take a look at McCain's track record--it's all over this board--you'll see that, more than mere opinion, what I posted is based on fact.Nothing about the truth is dark, to me--which is why I've done the reasearch and decided to vote Democratic this year.

According to the September 8 Army Times, the Army will deploy its first ever full-time combat unit within the borders of the United States, starting October 1. While troops have previously been mobilized within the US, as they were to help in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, employing combat troops in any extended capacity to serve as domestic law enforcement is in open violation of the Posse Comitatus Act as it has been historically interpreted from its passage in 1878 until its dismantling under the Bush Administration.

Still, there has not been a full-scale deployment of troops within the borders of the United States since the end of the Reconstruction. This 130-year restriction on the use of military for civilian policing will end on October 1, 2008. As noted in the Army Times article:thisniss's diary :: ::

The 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team has spent 35 of the last 60 months in Iraq patrolling in full battle rattle, helping restore essential services and escorting supply convoys.

Now they’re training for the same mission — with a twist — at home.Beginning Oct. 1 for 12 months, the 1st BCT will be under the day-to-day control of U.S. Army North, the Army service component of Northern Command, as an on-call federal response force for natural or manmade emergencies and disasters, including terrorist attacks.

The article does not state the reason for the deployment, the reason for the date (Oct 1) or length (1 year) of the deployment, nor the reason that this particular brigade was selected. It does state, however, that another unit will replace the 1st BCT after it finishes its deployment, and that the "dwell time mission" is expected to become a permanent one:

"Right now, the response force requirement will be an enduring mission. How the [Defense Department] chooses to source that and whether or not they continue to assign them to NorthCom, that could change in the future," said Army Col. Louis Vogler, chief of NorthCom future operations. "Now, the plan is to assign a force every year."

While the "dwell time mission" will be trained for certain peace time tasks (a la Katrina clean-up), it is clear from the article that a number of their duties will include tasks traditionally assigned to state and local law enforcement - a clear violation of Posse Comitatus. The article makes multiple references to "Homeland Security" type scenarios like response to terrorist attacks, weapons of mass destruction, etc. But there are also numerous references to "crowd control" type duties, and one officer describes training to use tasers. The 1st BCT’s soldiers also will learn how to use "the first ever nonlethal package that the Army has fielded," 1st BCT commander Col. Roger Cloutier said, referring to crowd and traffic control equipment and nonlethal weapons designed to subdue unruly or dangerous individuals without killing them.

The package includes equipment to stand up a hasty road block; spike strips for slowing, stopping or controlling traffic; shields and batons; and, beanbag bullets.

To my knowledge, there has been NO coverage of this in any traditional media. Nor has there been any justification for what looks like the action of a rogue President teetering on the verge of enforcing Martial Law. I encourage everyone to write their elected representatives to ask for an accounting.

I realize that there are "bigger" stories filling the news cycle, but I feel this is worth discussing. Perhaps I am being paranoid (feel free to tell me so in comments), but isn't there something wrong when we start using our military as a force for policing our own citizenry?"

You know, the person I would choose to run a company would be decisive, a leader, somone people could respect and want to work hard for and with, someone with strong moral convictions, if he or she happened to have a degree from Harvard, bonus, but not my top priority

Clearly rules out Mccain and Palin hard to respect a womanizing aduterer witha noted bad temper which seems to rule out moral convictions....when words dont meet up to actions and deeds there seems to be very little conviction. Likewise when someone uses position for personal vendettas and fairness and morals take a back seat to religous stance and religious politics.

I am curious as to what the BHO supports think, as to why Obama refuses to do multiple televised debates?

Obama already arranged with the Commission on Presidential Debates to have three televised debates with McCain. That was taken care of in the summertime. If you're talking about McCain's last-minute, impulsive requests for joint town-hall meetings: the answer is that Obama already had his campaign schedule mapped out. You act like Obama was sitting around with nothing to do all summer, and no campaign schedule of his own for the Fall. Don't you realize that Obama's campaign had already leased venues all over the country for his own appearances months in advance? Why should he have changed all that just to accommodate McCain? Obama was doing his own appearances and town-hall meetings to get his own message out. He doesn't work for McCain, so there was no reason for him to factor himself into McCain's campaign plans. It's a ridiculous suggestion.

This was hardly last minute, as the request for 10, yes that's TEN debates, by McCain to Obama was rejected by Obama, well before he agreed to only 3 debates.

Yes, the request was at the last minute, and the suggested venues would have been in front of McCain-friendly crowds in an effort to boost McCain. Furthermore, McCain's request was for 10 town-hall meeting formats. Those are not debates---they are Q&A sessions with pre-selected audiences. In those cases, the audiences would have been McCain audiences. Why would Obama cancel ten of his own appearances in order to appear with McCain? (You do realize that Obama had his own Fall campaign schedule set up when the McCain request was made, right?) We certainly can't blame McCain for trying that political stunt; but, as was stated earlier, it's not up to Obama to help McCain perform in his own campaign.

Three televised debates are enough for both candidates to tell the American people what they plan to do and what they're about.

A little while ago I saw a small segment of Couric's interview of Palin. Couric asked her to explain why she thinks it's important that Alaska is next to Russia. Palin's response was utterly pathetic, so much os that I almost felt sorry for her.

Then I saw a McCain ad that said Obama plans to tax our savings accounts!

Notice that the venues would be worked out by BOTH campaigns, so as to not make it biased one way or another

Again, Sanderick:

There was no point in Obama changing his Summer and Fall campaign plans to accommodate McCain's campaign. McCain did want the first suggested town-hall meeting to take place at New York's Federal Hall, and he also put forth suggestions for several other venues with which his campaign had coordinated. McCain publicly named venues which had been coordinated. So, your statement that the "venues would be worked out by both campaigns" isn't true. McCain already knew where he wanted many of these town-hall meetings to occur before he extended the "offer".

It wouldn't have made sense for Obama to assist with McCain's campaign plans. It's ridiculous. Obama had his own scheduled appearances and his own campaign to run. They are competing for the Presidency, not working in tandem for it.

The debates coordinated with the Commission on Presidential Debates have been formally agreed to by both campaigns in writing. McCain would be welching on his commitment if he backs out of Friday's debate now. He already committed to the debates in writing. He needs to follow through.

Judgement is more crucial than experience, in many ways. Some people may have alot of experience but sorely lack common sense. Also some others may have the experience but not the right temperament for the job. I believe that while McCain has more experience (on paper) he lacks common sense and does not have the right temperament for the job. He is prone to making rash decisions, which could have disastrous consequences for us all. His choice of Sarah Palin shows very poor judgement. Sarah Palin is a joke, a sick one at that, who could never be ready to take over for the Presidency should McCain be incapacitated (a very likely prospect, given his age). McCain shows a callous disregard for our country by choosing such an ill prepared person for his running mate. God forbid if she ever becomes President!

Obama, on the other hand, may have less experience on paper, but he has common sense and the right temperament for the job. He listens, is careful in his decision making, and shows excellent judgement in choosing Joe Biden for his running mate. Joe Biden is a good and honorable man whose international experience will serve Obama very well. They work well together, and heaven forbid if Obama had a heart attack, Biden would be ready to take over at a moment's notice without so much as a bump. Obama also shows his love and respect for our country by choosing a running mate who can take over if need be, and one whose experience in international affairs nicely balances Obama's domestic experience.

Integrity is very important to me, as well. McCain has been lying in the campaign about a variety of things, and his lack of integrity is a big turnoff for me. Sarah Palin does not have integrity either. She has lied repeatedly about the Bridge to Nowhere for example. On the other hand, both Obama and Biden are men of integrity, good family men and are ready to lead our country back to prosperity.

Using Obama's middle name is a way to try to scare people into thinking he is a Muslim when he is not. It is sick and depraved to do this, and does show an element of bigotry when one does this. People who are not racists don't need to drag out the middle name to bring attention to his ethnicity. Obama will be a great president, and Joe Biden will make a great vice president. Frankly, I don't give a hoot what Obama looks like. He will get the job done right, and that's all that counts with me.

I have the audacity for hope for a better America, and will proudly cast my vote for Obama/Biden in November!!!!

Obama kept saying that this is something that the next President will have to deal with, then in another breath he criticizes McCain for going to Washington to deal with it. It would seem to me that a candidate that may have to deal with this problem if elected President would want to be involved in such an important situation that is affecting the country.

You can debate till your blue in the face but debating and acting to solve the problem are two different things. McCain called this one right, get involved that way you know what your dealing with if your elected President.

Just curious....how did he get involved? He announced he was stopping campaigning - then went on CBS in New York to be interviewed about how he wasn't campaigning; then went to a fundraiser in New York; then went to bed. Arrived in Washington after a deal had been struck; met with House Republicans who then quashed the deal. Went to a meeting at the White House where Obama was also present.